Growing Independence & Fluency

Fishing for Fluency with Junie B. Jones

Rationale:

This lesson is designed to help students improve upon their reading fluency. Fluency is essential in comprehending reading. Students need to automatically recognize sight words so that they can read quickly while understanding the text. In this lesson, students will learn how to read fluently. They will be able to do this by improving their reading rate with reading, decoding, cross checking, mental marking, and rereading. They will then be able to understand what they are reading. During the lesson, the repeated reading will help them gain a better understanding of how to be a fluent reader. By the end of the lesson, students will have a better understanding of their texts and the ability to read fluently.

Materials:

Stopwatch (one for each pair of students)
Pencils
Fluency Chart (one per child)
Fluency Checklist
Reading Tracker
Comprehension Form
Class set of Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy by Barbara Park

Procedures:

Say: “Hello class! Today we are going to learn how to be fluent readers. Does anyone know what this means? (Wait for students to respond) Well, being a fluent reader means that you can read quickly and smoothly. You can also understand what you are reading as you do that! Being a fluent reader helps us read with expression. We can read in a LOUD scary voice, a quiet, nice voice or even a silly voice! (Say those descriptors expressively) Now let’s become fluent readers.”
Say: “Let’s all take a look at the sentence on the board. This is from our Junie B. Jones story. Listen as I read the sentence twice and tell me which one makes me sound like a fluent reader. (Read the sentence; I tapped on the glass; in a very choppy manner and with pauses for the first time and then read it fluently the second time). The second one was smooth and easy to understand. Fluent readers don’t have to stop and decode words during the sentence.”
Say: “Sometimes you might mess up. It happens! Make sure to reread the sentence to cross check yourself. I -- taped? on the glass. Oh I tapped on the glass! That makes more sense. When you reread a sentence, you correct what you might have misunderstood. When you find yourself stuck, reread the sentence to cross check yourself. It will help you become a fluent reader.”
Say: “I want you to read Junie B. Jones Smells Something Fishy so you can practice becoming a fluent reader. In this book, it is bring your pet to school day, but Junie B. Jones is not allowed to bring a dog. What is she supposed to do now? Does she bring a racoon? Does she bring a dead fish? What does she do? Read this book to find out.”
Say: “Alright, I am going to put you in groups of two. Each person will take turns reading the first chapter of the book. The one that is not reading must take notes on the fluency checklist that I hand out to you. While your partner reads, you must use the time to see how long it is taking them to read the chapter. You will use the stopwatch that I give you. When they are done, write their time down on the sheet. Take turns until you have both read the first chapter three times. Notice how your partner’s reading improves each time. Make sure to note how your partner has improved each time.”
Say: “Now that you guys are all done reading, I want you to look at your comprehension handout. You will answer these on your own.
When you are done, put down your pencil. I will then collect your packets.” Calculate their words per minute to monitor their fluency and check their comprehension questions to see if they understood the story.